The early works of Korean director Na Hong-jin—The Chaser and The Yellow Sea—precisely demonstrate his unique style as a film author with his abundant tension and drama.Luo Hongzhen's creation always carries a rough and primitive power, with intense emotions and bold narratives, and does not hide his inner restlessness and fanaticism.This seemingly chaotic expression may appear fragmented in the hands of other directors, but under his control, it can cleverly intertwin rationality and madness, giving birth to profound stories full of vitality and personality.

So, when he decided to direct a country horror film with a strong atmosphere in 2016, this unique creative impulse naturally blended into a thriller story that blends unconventional police investigations with weird supernatural elements.The movie is "The Wailing", which depicts the nature of evil in a way that constantly sways between reality and absurdity, full of suffocating tension and elusive emotional tension.After the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, it quickly won praise from the critical community and won many awards after its release, becoming a phenomenon that cannot be ignored in the film industry that year.

Although Luo Hongzhen's horror work is different from other classic Korean horror movies in terms of temperament - such as Kim Jee-woon's bloody and gloomy "I See the Devil" (I Saw the Devil), or Yeon Sang-ho's dynamic zombie theme "Travel to Busan" (Train to Busan)—but it is equally intoxicated by the ultimate emotion that is carefully controlled.As the plot progresses, Crying gradually deviates from the framework of linear narratives and evolves into a disturbing omen, as if summoning the roots of those horrifying events themselves.Many horror movies have tried to imitate this technique to enhance the market appeal, such as Netflix's Curse, which creates the illusion of being "cursed" through audience interaction."Crying" achieves this effect based on its own existence alone - making us feel like we are peeping at a tragedy that we shouldn't have witnessed, like looking straight into the abyss, but being looked back by its gaze.

Spoiler Warning:The following content involves plot spoilers for the movie "Crying", please read with caution.

In a humid and claustrophobic mountain village, policeman Zhong Jiu (played by Guo Duyuan) feels helpless in the face of a series of violent homicides.All of these cases appear to be due to the effects of a mysterious disease.For such an originally peaceful town, such extreme atrocities are rare. Although Zhong Jiu felt uneasy, he was unable to conduct an effective investigation because of his slow personality and clumsy behavior.Even though he saw the murderer's skin covered with abscesses and his turbid eyes, he only blamed him for his temporary emotional out-of-control - why did a man suddenly kill his wife and children?

As rumors spread, the villagers pointed their finger at a Japanese man (played by Kunimura Hayao) who had just moved outside the town.While Zhong Jiu was trying to clarify the truth, he began to encounter strange signs frequently.However, the real nightmare came only after his daughter Hyojin (played by Kim Hwan-hee) suddenly fell seriously ill and had severe convulsions.The story that follows is a vertigo-infused journey of fear and superstition, and a portrayal of how Zhong Jiu, as a policeman, completely exposes his powerlessness in a crisis.During this process, Luo Hongzhen inserted black humor at the right time, allowing the audience to feel a hint of irony chill at the most unexpected moment.Just as we begin to resonate with this kind but clumsy protagonist, reality reminds us ruthlessly: He can't stop the tragedy from happening in the end.In a sense, Crying is about a father’s mistakes that he made unintentionally, and it is these choices that have left him with the opportunity to protect his loved ones.As many people interpret, this movie is not only about sin, but also about how prejudice in human nature makes us lose ourselves.

I will not spoil more plots further, because the charm of "Crying" is to immerse itself in without any presuppositions and feel the strangeness and shock that comes to your face.What is really creepy is not a specific action or its consequence, but the human metaphor and cultural fear throughout the film - in the process of trying to explain the paranormal phenomenon rationally, we can only face a dark reality that cannot be understood and cannot escape.When the last scene slowly falls, the despair that penetrates deep into the bone marrow will come like a tide and will not disperse for a long time.

Crying can be watched on Amazon Prime Video, or on rent on Apple TV.